No Leaf Clover

A Short History Of A Company With A Long HistoryIf you wanted a total history of Ibanez you´d have go back to 1908 when a company named Hoshino began as a sheet music store and later music products distributor in Nagoya Japan.If you wanted a little less completeness than that you´d go back about forty-five when Hoshino began distributing a Spanish guitar named Ibanez. Or perhaps you´d simply go to the Mid 60´s when Hoshino, who by that time had purchased the rights to the Ibanez name, began shipping incredibly funky looking guitars to the United States, many of which were actually sold in department stores.But for most of us, Ibanez pretty much begins almost 30 years ago, when Hoshino opened an office near Philadelphia, PA for more efficiently distributing Ibanez guitars to the United States. Most of those guitars were Ibanez´ famous high quality (but very inexpensive) copies of just about everything–you name it, we probably made a version of it. At that time many American instruments were going through an unfortunate period of increasing prices with decreasing quality, and these copies hit a ready market.But the people with Ibanez weren´t content with just copying and Ibanez began making their own designs: the solid body Artists (played by Bob Weir of the Dead) the Iceman (first made famous by Paul Stanley of KISS and the George Benson guitars, the first jazz boxes designed for higher volume stage playing. Many of these "first" Ibanez guitars continue to increase in value and a good number are now highly prized collector´s items.By 1976, the Ibanez copy era officially came to an end when one of the major American guitar manufacturers--no longer amused by the copiers–successfully sued the highest profile copier, Ibanez. But by that time it didn´t matter–Ibanez had already left the copies behind and was fast becoming an innovative guitar company in its own right.By the mid-80´s with the interest in instrumental rock guitar on the rise, Ibanez collaborated with players such as Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Paul Gilbert and brought out the JEM, JS, RG and S models. Today, present day versions such as these models still considered the standard in hard rock and instrumental rock guitars.As well known for its jazz guitars as it is for rock, Ibanez has an impressive line of jazz boxes including the aforementioned George Benson models, two Pat Metheny models, and most recently, the new John Scofield signature semi-acoustic.One final note...Ibanez is also one of the top selling bass companies in the world (in many places the top selling bass). Ibanez first drew attention in the 70´s and 80´s with its neck-thru Musician basses with active electronics. Today, Ibanez offers the huge number of 4, 5, and 6 basses in the Soundgear as well as the basses of the future, the luthite-bodied Ergodynes.

John Petrucci (born July 12, 1967, Kings Park, Long Island, New York) is an American guitarist best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. He has produced (along with his bandmate Mike Portnoy) all Dream Theater albums since their 1999 release, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory, as well as the band's main lyricist.Petrucci first played guitar at age 8 when he noticed his sister (who was taking organ lessons at the time) was allowed to stay up past her bed time to practice. He soon dropped it when his plan failed. At age 12, he began playing again when he was invited into the band of his friend Kevin Moore, who would later become the first keyboardist of Dream Theater. Petrucci began to practice in earnest whilst exercising physically. He was a largely self-taught guitarist who developed his skills through attempts to match the skill of his idols, who included Steve Morse, Steve Howe, Steve Vai, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Al Di Meola, Alex Lifeson and Allan Holdsworth. He has jokingly referred to his guitar idols as "the Steves and the Als".[1]Petrucci attended Berklee College of Music in Boston with childhood friend John Myung (bass), where they met future bandmate Mike Portnoy (drums). These three in addition to another childhood friend of Petrucci and Myung, Kevin Moore (Keyboards), formed the band Majesty, which would later become Dream Theater.While Dream Theater is what Petrucci is most commonly associated with, he is also a part of the project band Liquid Tension Experiment and has appeared as a guest on several records by other artists such as the Age of Impact album by the Explorer's Club.Petrucci has released a guitar instructional video, "Rock Discipline", which covers warm up exercises, exercises to avoid injury while playing, alternate picking, sweep picking, chords and other techniques for developing one's guitar playing. Petrucci also has a book named "Guitar World presents John Petrucci's Wild Stringdom", which was compiled from columns he wrote for Guitar World magazine, bearing that same title.In 2001 he was invited by Joe Satriani and Steve Vai to tour with them on the popular G3 guitar tour, which exposed him to a massive number of new fans and inspired him to record a solo album. Suspended Animation was released on March 1, 2005, and made available for order from his web site. He also appeared on the 2005, 2006 and 2007 G3 tours.Petrucci also wrote and recorded two instrumental soundtrack songs for a Sega Saturn game titled Digital Pinball: Necronomicon. Each track is roughly two minutes long and they are simply titled "Prologue" and "Epilogue". Petrucci is an avid Sega Saturn gamer, and has revealed in interviews that he never tours without one.In 2007, John Petrucci went on G3 tour again, this time with Joe Satriani and Paul Gilbert.Dream Theater bandmate Jordan Rudess revealed in an interview that Petrucci is a practicing Catholic.[2] Petrucci is married to Rena Sands, a guitarist in the all-female heavy metal band Meanstreak, and they have 3 children, SamiJo, Reny (who are twins) and Kiara.Musical stylePetrucci is respected for his variety of guitar styles and skills. He has performed alongside Joe Satriani and Steve Vai on their annual G3 tour 6 times. Guitar magazines and fans worldwide consistently vote Petrucci as one of the world's finest guitar players.[3] He has been labeled as a virtuoso on some fansites and webzines, including Sputnikmusic[4], and TheFunkyGibbons [5], among others.EquipmentPetrucci is a devoted user of Mesa Boogie amplifiers and cabinets. During his career, he has used the Mark IIC+, Mark IV, Dual & Triple Rectifiers, the Formula, Recto, TriAxis and Formula preamps, Road King, Lonestar, and 2:90 power amps. Mark Snyder also built a one-off custom preamp called the Nunya, combined with a 2:100 power amp. Currently, he has gone back to using Mark IV's and Mark IIC+'s with Lonestars. He uses traditional sized 4x12 and 2x12 cabinets, all loaded with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers.

Over hill, over dale,Thorough bush, thorough brier,Over park, over pale,Thorough flood, thorough fire!I do wander everywhere,Swifter than the moon's sphere;And I serve the Fairy Queen,To dew her orbs upon the green;The cowslips tall her pensioners be;In their gold coats spots you see;Those be rubies, fairy favours;In those freckles live their savours;I must go seek some dewdrops here,And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.

What i've feltWhat i've knownNever shined through in what i've shownNever beNever seeWon't see what might have beenWhat i've feltWhat i've knownNever shined through in what i've shownNever freeNever meSo i dub thee UNFORGIVEN

Paranoia is a disturbed thought process characterized by excessive anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs concerning a perceived threat. In the original Greek, παράνοια (paranoia) simply means madness (para = outside; nous = mind) and, historically, this characterization was used to describe any delusional state.

Paranoia is distinct from phobia, which is more descriptive of an irrational and persistent fear, usually unfounded, of certain situations, objects, animals, activities, or social settings. By contrast, a person suffering paranoia or paranoid delusions tends more to blame or fear others for supposedly intentional actions that somehow affect the afflicted individual

In psychiatry, the term paranoia was used by Emil Kraepelin to describe a mental illness in which a delusional belief is the sole, or most prominent feature. In his original attempt at classifying different forms of mental illness, Kraeplin used the term pure paranoia to describe a condition where a delusion was present, but without any apparent deterioration in intellectual abilities and without any of the other features of dementia praecox, the condition later renamed schizophrenia. Notably, in his definition, the belief does not have to be persecutory to be classified as paranoid, so any number of delusional beliefs can be classified as paranoia. For example, a person who has the sole delusional belief that he is an important religious figure would be classified by Kraepelin as having 'pure paranoia'. More recently, the clinical use of the term has been used to describe delusions where the affected person believes they are being persecuted. Specifically, they have been defined as containing two central elements:

The individual thinks that harm is occurring, or is going to occur, to him or her. The individual thinks that the persecutor has the intention to cause harm.

The guitar had its primitive origins in the ancient Near East. Clay plaques excavated from Babylonia, dated circa 1850 B.C., show figures playing musical instruments, some bearing a general resemblance to a guitar and having a distinctly differentiated body and neck. Later evidence from ancient Egypt indicates a necked instrument with marked frets about the neck. A stringed instrument from ancient Rome incorporates a wood soundboard with five groups of small sound holes.

During the Middle Ages, guitars with three, four, and five strings co-existed. The Guitarra Latina had curved sides and is thought to have come to Spain from elsewhere in Europe. The Guitarra Morisca, brought to Spain by the Moors, had an oval soundbox and many sound holes on its soundboard. By the fifteenth century, four double-string guitars, similar to lutes, became popular, and by the sixteenth century, a fifth double-string had been added. During this time, composers wrote mostly in tablature notation. Italy was the center of guitar world during the 17th century, and the the Spanish school of guitar making only began to flourish late in the 18th century after the addition of the sixth string. During the 19th century, improved communication and transportation enabled performers to travel widely and the guitar became a widely known instrument. Guitar music became especially popular in Spain and Antonio de Torres developed the Spanish guitar in its modern form, with a broadened body, increased waist curve, thinned belly, improved internal bracing, single string courses replacing double courses, and a machined head replacing wooden tuning pegs.

While most of the credit for the early development of the acoustic guitar goes to Europeans, today's steel-string acoustic guitars were developed in America. During the early 20th century, when European emigrants were coming to America in droves, there were a number of highly skilled instrument makers among them, including those who specialized in the steel-stringed acoustic guitar. Two types of construction evolved: the flat-top guitar and the arch-top guitar. Martin and Gibson were two of the earliest — and most influential — American acoustic guitar makers.

Modern guitars have six strings. Andres Segovia, a Spanish guitarist who lived from 1893 to 1987, helped establish the guitar as a concert instrument, adapting it to the complex music of modern composers and transcribing early polyphonic music. His virtuoso playing inspired compositions by Manuel de Falla and Villa-Lobos. Acoustic guitars are used most often in folk and jazz music.

Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnelIs just a freight train coming your wayThen it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnelIs just the freight train coming your way......It’s coming your wayIt’s coming your way......Here comes

Shel Silverstein was born on September 25, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois, where he was writing from the time he was a young boy. He was a composer, an artist, and the author of numerous books of prose and poetry for younger readers.

Silverstein's prose works include such modern classics as The Giving Tree (1963), Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back (1963), and The Missing Piece (1976), while his immensely popular poetry collections include Where the Sidewalk Ends, which received a Michigan Young Readers Award in 1974, A Light in the Attic, which received a School Library Journal Best Books Award in 1982, and, most recently, Falling Up (HarperCollins, 1996).

Silverstein's work, which he illustrated himself, is characterized by a deft mixing of the sly and the serious, the macabre and the just plain silly. His wicked, giddy humor is beloved by countless adults as well as by children. He died in May 1999.

Each time I see the upside-down man standing in theWater I look at him and start to laughAlthough I shouldn’t oughtter.For maybe in another world Another time Another townMaybe HE is right side up And I am upside DOWN